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Defend the Consumer Bureau

Our Consumer Cop On the Financial Beat

You should be able to save, invest and manage your money without fear of being trapped, tricked or ripped off by the institutions you're trusting with your financial future. That’s why we need strong consumer protections on Wall Street.

The 2008 economic collapse made it even more clear that Americans need a watchdog agency devoted to creating and enforcing fair, clear and transparent rules to protect consumers in the financial marketplace. So in 2010, we helped create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to be our watchdog on Wall Street. But now, the Trump administration and Wall Street's allies in Congress are looking to weaken or eliminate the Consumer Bureau. We can't let that happen.

The CFPB Gets the Job Done

Despite the fact that the CFPB is not widely known, it's been a huge success for consumers, returning nearly $12 billion to more than 29 million people who were ripped off by companies that broke the law … in just six years.

The CFPB holds big banks, debt collectors, and lenders accountable. Here are a few examples of some of the cases the CFPB has taken on to protect consumers:

In 2015, the Department of Justice and 47 states joined the CFPB in a $216 million action against JP Morgan Chase Bank for illegal debt collection practices affecting more than half a million Americans.

The CFPB fined Equifax andTransUnion — two of the three largest credit reporting agencies — $5 million for selling inflated credit scores to consumers that were different from ones actually used by lenders, and returned $17 million to those consumers harmed by the deception.

In addition, the Consumer Bureau has helped level the financial playing field, educating veterans, senior citizens, new homeowners, college students, and low-income consumers on how to keep their finances secure.

The Consumer Bureau's success should be earning it applause in Washington. The idea that consumers deserve protection against fraud and other misleading practices shouldn't be controversial.

Yet instead of cheering on the Consumer Bureau, the Trump administration and some members of Congress are pushing to weaken or even get rid of it.

Senators: Keep our Watchdog on Wall Street

We can keep our consumer cop on the financial beat — but only if we can convince enough senators to stand up and defend the Consumer Bureau, and stop any bad bills that try to roll back or eliminate consumer protections.

Even with the Consumer Bureau on the job, many Americans are still at risk of reckless financial practices that threaten their homes, their retirement savings, and their overall well-being. That’s why we don’t simply need the Consumer Bureau to exist: We need to make it even better, by strengthening commonsense consumer protections, spreading the word about its success and potential, and defending it from constant attacks from Wall Street.

In the wake of the Great Recession, we helped spearhead the creation of the Consumer Bureau. Now, we need your help to stand up for consumer protection once again, and defend the CFPB from those who would weaken or eliminate it.

Check out our Reports about the CFPB

In the years since the Consumer Bureau was created, we've worked alongside Frontier Group to research and review the CFPB's Consumer Complaint Database to publish a series of reports documenting the problems consumers are facing in the financial marketplace, how the Consumer Bureau is helping to resolve these issues, and what steps should be taken to ensure consumers are protected. Click through to learn more about each of these reports:

U.S. PIRG, along with Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS) and the Center for Auto Safety, is challenging in court recent actions by the Federal Trade Commission that put the health and safety of millions of Americans at risk. This week, we amended our previous court filings because the FTC has now filed unacceptable decrees with six, not three, used car dealers.

Today, the House Financial Services Committee approved HR 10, the so-called Financial Choice Act, on a straight party-line vote. We call it the Wrong Choice Act. The bill eviscerates the successful CFPB, which has returned $11.8 Billion to over 29 million consumers in less than six years. The bill repeals much of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act enacted to protect us after the 2008 financial collapse. Our statement is below.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau receives more complaints about debt collection than about any other topic. The complaints are submitted by consumers who reach out to the CFPB for help resolving problems with debt collectors and other problems in the financial marketplace.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has helped consumers reclaim billions of dollars lost through unfair financial practices. As of the end of 2016, the CFPB had returned more than $11.8 billion to 29 million customers.

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"Even after sending more than 13 letters to Equifax over the course of two years, Julie Miller could not get the big credit bureau to remove a host of errors that it inserted into her credit report. [...] So she tried suing. That worked. [...] “Big punitive penalties may help force the bureaus to upgrade their 20th-century algorithms and incompetent dispute reinvestigation processes,” said Ed Mierzwinski, consumer program director at the United States Public Interest Research Group. “But C.F.P.B.’s authority to supervise the big credit bureaus is one of the most significant powers Congress gave it.”

The Federal Housing Finance Authority (FHFA) should be accountable to consumers, taxpayers and Congress as it works to stabilize housing markets. The selection of a permanent FHFA director is an important opportunity to restore this powerful office to a servant of the public, rather than a captured creature of moneyed interests.

Prepaid debit cards are billed as a better way to manage your money, a smart alternative to checking accounts. [...but prepaid] debit cards are different from credit cards or even debit cards tied to a checking account. They may not provide the same level of protection again loss or fraud. Ed Mierzwinski, director of consumer programs at U.S. PIRG, doesn’t think most people understand the difference.

U.S. PIRG applauds CFPB’s enforcement action, including over $15 million in total penalties, against four mortgage insurers to end the practice of giving kickbacks to mortgage companies to get their business.

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Triple-digit APR payday lenders are spending some of their massive profits on a bad legislative proposal, HR 1909, to eliminate any oversight by either state governments or the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and move them into the arms of the industry-friendly federal bank regulator known as the OCC. Being regulated by the OCC has been a "get out of regulation free" card for the banks, so why not join them?

A Wall Street Journal story today has everyone talking about how Internet sites use profiles and cookies to offer different customers different offers, or the same product for different prices. On the Internet today, everybody knows whether you're a big dog, or just a dog.

Joining agencies that regulate cars, toys and other consumer products, medical devices and airline service, today the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau rolls out a searchable online complaint database. The CFPB's new tool, for credit cards to start, comes in the nick of time to help consumers who the LA Times warns may be tricked into automatically signing up for an over-priced junky Citibank add-on monitoring service.

(UPDATED) At 10am, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee will ask JP Morgan Chase chief Jamie Dimon questions perhaps including "What did you know and when did you know it?" and "Did your $3 billion in gambling losses violate the Volcker rule against betting you rown (and the depositors') money?" We will be there, tweeting from @edmpirg.

(POST UPDATED): The data broker Spokeo has agreed to pay penalties of $800,000 over multiple violations of the Fair Credit Reporting and FTC Acts. It's important as the first FTC case over the "sale of Internet and social media data in the employment screening context."

As the House considers the next coronavirus funding bill, the Heroes Act, an analysis by U.S. PIRG of recent complaints to the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) shows an alarming need for Congressional action to protect consumers from the pandemic’s repercussions.

Consumer Reports, U.S. PIRG and a consumer-turned-activist delivered nearly 250,000 petition signatures today to the airlines calling on them to provide full refunds when passengers cancel their flights because of concerns about the coronavirus.

If you’re like me, you’re spending a lot more time cleaning while sheltering in place. My increased time at home cooking, working, and playing with my children makes a lot of mess! I am also cleaning more as a way to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19. I enjoy my cleaning routine; in a day full of zoom calls and wrangling small children, it’s nice to take a break to listen to the radio or music while I wipe down the counters or sweep the floor.

U.S. PIRG Education Fund has released a report with the Student Borrower Protection Center and Consumer Action. The report makes recommendations to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to upgrade its consumer complaint tool, including the public consumer complaint database, so COVID19-related complaints can be handled more quickly and tracked better.

A U.S. PIRG report finds that complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reached record numbers in April. Credit reporting complaints, which historically top the list, increased by more than 20,000.

During an online panel organized by U.S. PIRG, former CFPB Director Rich Cordray warned that this difficult time will likely last longer than most believe, and that consumers need protections such as mortgage relief and a halt on evictions for nonpayment of rent in order to weather it.

More than 100 mayors and county executives joined U.S. PIRG in sending a letter to the Trump administration urging the federal government to invoke the Defense Production Act to increase production of critical medical supplies, and to establish a system to distribute those supplies to front line workers.

On March 31, Marriott disclosed its second data breach in 16 months, this time related to its loyalty app. The hack exposed the personal data of 5.2 million guests, putting them at risk of phishing schemes.